Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Two weeks ago I sat in front of a blank page and wondered what to write - do I go over the reason for my absence or not? I eventually decided to concentrate on the positive and the future.

30 minutes is all it took to change everything.

The time elapsed between two phone calls. One misheard word - a sigh of relief and then a clarification. My mother has passed away.

Within hours we are booked on a flight that leaves the next day - half a world away, we must wait.

I cannot talk, it is too difficult. I am so thankful to have my husband - he is my voice. He is doing the things that I cannot, even though I know he is grieving. My mother is right - we are very blessed to have him in our lives.

One week has passed since that call and I still cannot believe it.

The last 3 months I have learnt so much about my parents, my regret is that there was still so much to discover. I assumed I had time, I had no inkling that this was not the case.

The hardest days are yet to come but I will not think of them, I will focus on the good memories.

I will be taking a break from blogging, there are conversations we need to have.

I won’t be abandoning this site - the very reason I can cook is because of my mother. Everything I know is because of her. This blog is filled with her wonderful recipes and when the time is right, I will blog again.

Thank you to my blogging friends and readers for the concern you have shown over the last few years and months - your kind words, thoughts and prayers have meant so much.

I think it is fitting to finish this post with one of my mother’s recipes - a brilliant dish full of good memories.

Thursday, October 02, 2014

"Viral" is a fashionable word these days. Something goes "viral" because everybody knows it, talks about it, wants it. Well, the European Community ABC didn't go viral, but in reading again its announcement post from December 2012, I see that it talked about 16 blogs that were announcing together a virtual culinary tour of the European Community countries.

This year, however, we are ready to go: the calendar has been finalised and 29 bloggers (some of them ambassadors for a country, others travelers) plus the one and only Aiuolik make up a happy caravan.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are delighted to announce:

THE WORLD CULINARY ABC

You got it: this time we will virtually travel around the world and put it on the table one letter at a time.

This tour will feature an ambassador for each letter and we hope that again there will be many of you traveling with us — for just one leg or for the whole tour or whenever your luggage is ready and you want to join the fun.

Each letter of the alphabet is associated with a city that represents a country and the ambassador will start the festivities with a dish s/he chooses from that country's culinary tradition. During the three weeks following the opening post, anyone can publish a recipe from the same country. It's that easy.

In brief, if you'd like to participate, remember the 4W rule:

WHEN: every three weeks we change letter and country;

WHAT: you can publish any recipe (or more than one) from the country represented by the letter (the initial of the recipe name does not matter);

WHERE: publish the recipe on your blog and then leave a comment on the initial post (on the ambassador's blog) containing the URL of your post;

WHO: anyone who has a blog can participate; the more the merrier. It would be great to travel together for as many stops as possible, but, as I said above, you can choose when to participate.

The post(s) you publish must include a reference to the event and to the ambassador's blog. Use of the logo (the image above) is optional but welcome. You can also contribute a recipe from your archive: add the reference to the event and to the ambassador's blog and then submit the URL as described above. Let me know if you have any questions or doubts on the process.
Here's the calendar. Each line includes the letter, the name of the representative city, then in parentheses the name of the country and continent in which the city is located, the start and end date of our stay in the country and finally the hosting blog (ambassador).

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

You know you've been away from blogging for a while when you are stumped on how to actually begin the post. I have officially lost count of the various attempts, so maybe I should keep it simple and say

You could just toast the bread but I like to make it a little more special by pan toasting in a little butter and olive oil.

Melt a knob of butter and a little oil into a skillet and when the butter has melted, add the sliced baguette. Cook on a low heat - when evenly browned, turn the bread over and cook until browned - you might need to add a little extra butter

Make the topping:

Drizzle a little olive oil into a pan along with a good knob of butter and place on a low heat. When the butter has melted, tumble in the sliced onions and cook ever so slowly until meltingly soft and just starting to colour. For the best result, this should take about 20 to 30 minutes.

Increase the heat, add another knob of butter - when it has melted and the onion has started to colour, add in the sliced liver. Cook each side of the liver for about 30 seconds or until browned - it's important not to overcook the liver or it will be tough. When it has browned on both sides, deglaze the pan with a little white wine and season with sea salt and white pepper.

Remove from the heat and sprinkle over with chopped parsley - give it a stir and serve.

To serve:

Place the crostini on a plate and then top generously with the liver. Eat at once!